Finance and Investments

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Today’s business environment is more complicated than ever. This is illustrated by the recent financial crises and social-cultural, geopolitical & macro-economic developments that increasingly affect corporate decision making. Corporate finance deals with the financing and investment decisions made by the management of companies in the pursuit of shareholder wealth maximization. For instance, a company can finance itself by borrowing money from banks, by issuing bonds or through the stock market. The course explores aspects of corporate finance, examining how companies interact with the financial markets and how managers’ decisions affect the value of their company’s shares, bonds, etc. These types of decisions influence the expected return and risk of the company. The course gives a broad overview of important issues in corporate finance and combines insights from economics, business, and psychology. The economic side of corporate finance deals with the maximization of shareholder wealth. To this end managers aim at securing the greatest possible return in exchange for accepting the smallest amount of risk. The course is largely based on real life cases that we discuss in an interactive manner. Students will debate on topics such as "What amount of risk should companies take?", "Should CEO bonuses be reduced?", "What were the causes of the financial crisis?", "Should companies engage in green investments, i.e. Social Responsible Investments (SRI)?", and "Is it important for firms to put corporate social responsibility high on their corporate agenda?".